RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING CLEANS UP AT VALKENSWAARD!

veröffentlicht am
01.04.2013
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Sunday was a great day out at the sandy Valkenswaard circuit for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team with Tony Cairoli and Ken de Dycker finishing 1-2 in MX1 and Jeffrey Herlings and Jordi Tixier 1-2 in MX2 for two clear wins in the Grand Prix of Netherlands.

It was not only a double triumph for the four riders but underlined the performance of their KTM racing machines – Herlings and Tixier on the KTM 250 SX-F, Cairoli on the light and nimble KTM 350 SX-F and De Dycker on the KTM 450 SX-F.

Pit Beirer, Head of KTM Motorsports: “Our top riders won their overall GPs and what made it even nicer was that our other two riders were second. You can’t have a better day than this. Now we have to work very hard to keep at this level.”

Herlings underlines his skill on sandJeffrey Herlings got the ball rolling with two immense races starting back at gate 40 following a disqualification in qualifying after he crashed and was deemed to have had outside assistance. He took the first lap steady in race one to position himself out of trouble but teammate Jordi Tixier was out of the gates like a rocket, grabbed the holeshot and took the lead. Jeffrey quickly worked his way up to third behind Tixier and Max Anstie but the team’s French rider hung tenaciously onto the lead until lap 10 with Herlings jockeying behind him waiting to pounce. But in the end, the ‘King of Sand’, as Herlings is known, took another impressive 11-second lead.

Bigger challenge for Herlings in race twoHerlings had an even bigger challenge in the second race of the day and was back at twenty-third at the drop of the gate at the same instant as Tixier again took the holeshot. And while Herlings battled through the traffic with his unbelievable confidence, his teammate stretched his lead at the front of a train of around five KTM riders. Herlings moved into second place with eight laps to go but Tixier was still six seconds in front. The Dutch rider put down the hammer and caught his teammate with three laps to go and charged his way to the flag and yet another superb victory. While everyone is accustomed to stunning rides by Herlings in the sand, it was also a huge ride for Tixier. Herlings has now won four times in Valkenswaard, each time with double moto wins.

Cairoli takes 1-2 for overall MX1 GP victoryTony Cairoli came out of the gates well in the opening race, sandwiched in between the two Honda riders Evgeny Bobryshev and Max Nagl with KTM teammate Ken De Dycker in fifth. Cairoli seized the lead before the end of lap two and settled down to control the race. De Dycker meanwhile moved his way through the pack and began to close on Cairoli with 14 laps to go. The Belgian rider slipped past and held the lead for several laps before coming to grief in the wave section, part of the track in shade where the sand track was still frozen and very slippery. Cairoli slipped by and settled down to take the comfortable victory, hitting the flag with almost six seconds advantage. De Dycker crossed the line in third.

Victory for de Dycker in MX1 race two Glory in the second MX1 moto went to De Dycker who took the lead 21 minutes into the moto and managed to hang on right to the end, despite a hard charge from Cairoli in the closing laps. Second place in the race was enough to give Cairoli the GP victory, the 56th of his amazing career and his fifth consecutive on the Valkenswaard circuit.

Tony Cairoli (1-2, wins GP) : “The track was very hard. In your mind you think it’s sand but some bumps were really square and I made some mistakes at the beginning of the second race after winning the first race easily. I couldn’t find my rhythm for the first 15 minutes of race two but my last lap was the best of the race and in the end we almost had a photo finish with Ken.”

Ken De Dycker (3-1, second in GP):“We both had a good start in the first moto and then Tony let me by after he made a mistake. I tried to keep calm but then one time I started to slide and the bike threw me off. I was a bit dizzy for two laps. There was one place where I could have passed Bobryshev if I had been closer. The race was one lap too short. The second moto was really easy but I did make some mistake half way and towards the end.”

Jeffrey Herlings (1-1, wins GP): “It definitely wasn’t easy from gate pick 40 but I made the best of it. I got a good start in the first moto but it wasn’t good at all in the second, so the first race was a bit easier for me but I made it happen. Then in the last laps it was great to see all the Dutch flag, I like that!”

Jordi Tixier (2-2, second in GP): “For me it was a good weekend, I was twice second but it was like I won. I got two holeshots and was in front for the first 25 minutes in the first moto and in the second I was in the lead up to five laps before the end.”